Florence Pushes to retain tourists

FLORENCE COUNTY, SC (WMBF) - More time and resources are being put into making the City of Florence a destination location.

Tourists just passing by the city bring in millions of dollars every year, but this year the City of Florence and the county are pushing to get those tourists to stay.

“The more reasons we can get people to come downtown…then the better our restaurants and other retailers do,” said Ray Reich, Florence downtown development manager.

Reich said the major marketing campaigns are at work to grab some of the thousands of cars that drive along I-95.

Reich said studies show more than 70,000 cars pass by Florence every day.

And to catch just a portion of that traffic the City of Florence now has a broadcast radio station called WFSC.

“It's a low power radio station, which is a not for profit radio station and it broadcast on 106.9 FM,” Reich said.

The city just obtained the station back in November.

It's broadcasting now, and if you tune in you'll get information about all the events happening in the city of Florence.

And coming soon, you'll see signs on the interstate telling tourists to tune in.

“If you can capture just a small portion of 72,000 cars that's a lot of people you can bring into your community,” Reich said.

Also within the next 60 days you'll start seeing more way finding signs going up in the area.

They'll show visitors exactly where to turn to check out feature attractions in downtown Florence.

And while special events like Florence after Five, the South Carolina Pecan Festival and others are designed to reach people in the region the hope is that some of the spring and summer travelers will stop and check them out.

Outside of city limits, there is a push to get more people to check out Florence County's River and streams this year.

A kayaking tour highlighting the travels of Francis Marion will kick off this spring at the Lynches River County Park.

The hope is that these pushes will get more people staying and dining in the county.

Officials say they are pushing for this area to become a travel destination.

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A homeowner in The Market Common wants people to be aware of a theft that happened right on his front porch. He shared video surveillance with WMBF News from two cameras that capture the suspect stealing a bicycle.

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